Ethnic Enrichment Festival

A feast for the eyes and tummy awaited today at the 31st Annual Ethnic Enrichment Festival held in Swope Park. The Festival began Friday and ran through 6pm today. Sixty cultures were represented through food, music, dance and crafts... Totally friendly groups who didn't hate a guy with a camera.
Above, fashion show.... below Indian dancer.

The entrance with a flag for every represented nation.


The bison burger was tempting but I ended up eating at the Ecuadorian booth.


Hyper had the fritada and lemonaide. Below, my line.







Above, former Mayor Richard Berkley was there.





Apparently, there really is a RoadRunner .... he was popular with the smaller humans.

Above, I don't know.
Above, siesta, below, beauty queen.

The costumes worn for the fashion show were beautiful.... I found the best place for photos is behind the pavilion just before the fashion show... all are lined up and gracious in posing.







Just so I don't hear from Meesha.... FOOD. The Ecuadorians had never heard of a Philly Cheese-steak.













Above, my neighbor Olga who was in charge of the Ecuador booth... and who made my FOOD below.




Above... the paparazzi.... below the "subject".... Croatian garb.....

You can get your hair painted green, or, in the case of fellow blogger XO painted on.


Above, the kids tent with stuff to do including making hats from grocery sacks.




Above... this poor young man was dying... despite the umbrella and fan. It was warm but in the shade plenty cool enough.

Above, siesta number 2..... below... before the Indian dance began one of the performers spotted friends in the audience... she was awesome.....






Above..... this old tree has been there for all 31 festivals.... and maybe even before the land became Swope Park.....

All in all... a great afternoon. I try to go each year.... Parks and Rec and their sponsors do an awesome job.

Meleah

Meleah is the reigning Miss Sooner State Sweetheart 2010 in the American Coed pageant series. We updated her photos last week for her next pageant. She is very poised for her age but perfectly willing to have fun. She lives outside of Oklahoma, City and is 10 years old.
She reminds me (and I know I'm dating myself) of a young Lauren Bacall.....
Her beautiful name means "Mary" in Hawaiian and she LOVES social studies. I think that's cool.



I suddenly realized that probably few would even remember Lauren Bacall.... here she is below at 19.

Grime Free Shiny

Quick update..... after only a couple of days the results of the grime removal from the Colonnade can be readily seen.... grime reduction on the right in both pictures.... still grimy on the left. Excellent use of tax dollars.

Colonn-aide

The Colonnade at the Concourse over here in Historic Northeast is getting a facelift. A contractor has begun work on the surface of the 102-year-old structure... above. Below, also slated for change are the floors in the gazeboes at either end... the current floor will be replaced with flagstone. Later on the foliage behind the Colonnade will be trimmed so the view can be opened up and the steps down to Cliff Drive will be built/restored... Good going Parks and Rec.

Francesca

Francesca, America's US Miss Teen 2010 .... was recently in the studio; we updated her photos for her next competition.. Miss Missouri USA (Teen) in November. She is a high school senior this year and lives in a suburb of St. Louis. She is extremely poised for her age and is able to achieve a number of different looks with ease.

Bug and Blossom

Lots of these along Cliff Drive right now.... will try to locate identities of each later on.

Byway Summer

The Cliff Drive Scenic Byway has never been more lush.... with the wild grape, above, clinging to everything and the trees arching over the roadway, below.

Above and below.... you'd think a variety run amok and called "wild grape" would at least produce fruit.

KC Parks and Recreation has created areas in our parks that are less traveled designated for reduced mowing.... the result is landscape that, toward the end of summer, looks a little like it probably once did before it was mowed at all. Above and below views of Scarritt Point that are in the RMP... or, Reduced Mowing Program.

Above... the skyline barely visible above the trees in the distance....

Museum Quality Fuel Oil

What's big, buried and forgotten? A fuel oil tank under the grounds of the KC Museum.... A tell tale vent pipe gave it away... at some point Corinthian Hall switched from coal to fuel oil for heat. A little cleaner and a lot easier than shoveling. Over time though the tank was forgotten.... at least until recently when engineers were checking the grounds in preparation for the installation of the new HVAC. The Museum's Engineer mentioned the vent pipe and an exploration of the subterranean parts of the old building revealed a gauge... a switch was flipped and the gauge went to zero and then to 3,500 gallons..... whoops. Today (Fri) a truck was on site to pump out the tank. Wonder what other surprises might lay in wait?

Walking by the Mighty Mo

Tried the new river walk on Sunday..... which allows a person to travel from Main street almost all the way to Paseo Boulevard along the Missouri River.

Above looking east toward the ASB Bridge, below looking west toward the Broadway Bridge. Old mooring post in the foreground below with wire rope still attached.And yes, the Mighty Muddy Mo is Mighty Muddy. As Twain said: "too thick to swim in and too thin to walk on."
Above the ASB Bridge which stands for Armour (Packing Co.) Swift ( & Company) and Chicago, BURLINGTON (and Quincy Railroad). The piers were built in 1890 but sat unused until 1909 when construction of the rest of the bridge began. It consisted of two decks the upper for cars and trucks and the lower for trains. The bridge, as you can see, is very close to the surface of the water right now which is one reason why the center portion is counterweighted and can be raised. Bridge designers made it possible to do this without disturbing the top deck so traffic was not impeded. After the Heart of America Bridge was finished in 1987 the ASB's top deck was removed. It is a National Landmark in Civil Engineering and is owned now by the Burlington Northern Railroad. Note the pathway goes down under the bridge....on the right in the image. The path is handicap accessible and is for biking or walking.
Areas next to the trail have been planted with native grasses and other plants which should make it look a lot like it did when Lewis and Clark came by just after 1800.
Above, ASB on the left showing one of the massive piers. The piers were originally 9 stories tall in 1890 when completed but were lowered to just 10-feet over the high water mark.
Another view of the Bond Bridge looking east above and below the ASB and The Heart of America Bridges.

Below.... "adaptive reuse" sorta. An old administrative building which was in horrible shape has been stabilized and even has flower boxes in the windows.
To access the walkway you can take Grand down to Berkley Park and then walk west, or, park at the foot of Main, walk out on the tower and then down by stairs or elevator to the walkway.